Building Blocks and a Wand Having Magnetic Properties Therefor

ABSTRACT

A toy combination includes a plurality of children&#39;s building blocks, each of the building blocks having a non-magnetized ferrous material, and a wand with at least a portion that is magnetic, the wand capable of attracting the plurality of children&#39;s building blocks. The wand may have end lower ends in a variety of configurations to pick up the building blocks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Reference to Related Case

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) toprovisional application no. 61/740,382, filed on Dec. 20, 2012, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and is acontinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 14/071,519, filed on Nov.4, 2013, the contents of which are also incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to building blocks and a wand that can beused to collect and/or pick up the building blocks.

Building blocks have been known and used to keep children busy inimaginative play for years. The building blocks come in buckets orcontainers that usually include hundreds of the building blocks and thebuilding blocks can be assembled in any number of configurations.Children have also been able to collect the building blocks in sets andfor specific projects or buildings/characters. However, when thechildren are done, the building blocks are usually spread all over theroom(s) and need to be picked up and put away. However, picking up eachof the individual pieces can be time-consuming and can be a struggle toget the children to pick up their own toys.

Thus, a way to collecting and picking up the building blocks is neededto assist usually tired and overworked parents and eliminate at leastone argument in the household.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a toy combination that includes aplurality of children's building blocks, each of the plurality ofchildren's building blocks having a non-magnetized ferrous material, anda wand having at least a portion that is magnetic, the wand capable ofattracting the plurality of children's building blocks.

In some embodiments, the non-magnetized ferrous material is a pluralityof non-magnetized ferrous pieces.

In some embodiments, the non-magnetized ferrous material is in a powderform.

In some embodiments, the non-magnetized ferrous material is in aparticulate form.

In yet another aspect, the present invention is directed to a wand forattracting building blocks with a non-magnetized ferrous materialtherein having a first end, the first end being a handle for the wand, asecond end, the second end having at least a portion that is magnetic toattract the building blocks with the non-magnetized ferrous material,and an extended portion extending between the first and second ends.

In some embodiments, the second end of the wand has a generallydisc-shaped configuration.

In other embodiments, the second end of the wand is generallyrectangular in cross section.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe detailed description which follows, and in part will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognizedby practicing the invention as described herein, including the detaileddescription which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present embodiments of theinvention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework forunderstanding the nature and character of the invention as it isclaimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitutea part of this specification. The drawings illustrate variousembodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve toexplain the principles and operations of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of a wand having magneticproperties and the building blocks that can be attracted to the wandaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of a generic building block showing thenon-magnetized ferrous material therein;

FIG. 2A is a cross section of another generic building block showing thenon-magnetized ferrous material as a single piece of non-magnetizedferrous material;

FIG. 2B is a cross section of another generic building block showing thenon-magnetized ferrous material as a two pieces of non-magnetizedferrous material in the building block;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another embodiment of a wand having magneticproperties and the building blocks that can be attracted to the wandaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of one embodiment of a wand having magneticproperties and the building blocks that can be attracted to the wandaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiment(s) of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numeralswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a wand 10 according to the presentinvention. The wand 10 has magnetic properties. The wand 10 is used inconjunction with building blocks 20, which have a non-magnetized ferrousmaterial (See FIGS. 2, 2A, and 2B). The non-magnetized ferrous materialmay include materials such as iron, nickel, cobalt, the alloys thereof,or a combination of these materials that are non-magnetized. It isimportant that the building blocks 20 do not include magnetized materialsuch that the building blocks 20 are attracted to one another duringplay with children. The wand 10 has a handle 12, an extended portion 14extending from the handle 12 to a magnetic portion 16 at the end of thewand 10. While the three portions (12,14,16) of the wand 10 areexplicitly illustrated in FIG. 1, the extended portion 14 and themagnetic portion 16 may appear to be a single, integral portion withoutthe line 18. The magnetic portion 16 may be as large (e.g., 50% of thelength of the wand) or small (only at the end of the wand 10) as theuser would like. In FIG. 1, the wand 10 has an oval cross section, butit could have any appropriate cross section, including for example,round, square, or simply elongated with a number of discrete sides,e.g., hexagonal, pentagonal, etc.

FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of a wand 30 according to thepresent invention. The wand 30 has a handle 32 that is attached to anelongated magnetized portion 34. The magnetized portion 34 may extendfrom a bottom end 36 all the way to the handle 32, or just a portionthereof. The magnetized portion 34 section of wand 30 has a generallyrectangular cross section, and the relative sizes of the small andlarger axis may be of any ratio. Thus, the magnetized portion 34 may bethin and wide, or closer to a square shape.

FIG. 4 illustrates yet another embodiment of a wand 40 according to thepresent invention. The wand 40 has a handle portion 42 that isrelatively longer than the other embodiments and has a magnetizedportion 44 at the end of the handle portion 42. As illustrated, themagnetized portion 44 is a flat, disk-shaped portion. However, themagnetized portion 44 may be of any shape or configuration at the end ofhandle portion 42 and be within the scope of the present invention. Forexample, the magnetized portion 44 may be a spherical shape, a square orrectangular shape, etc. The wands 10, 30, and 40 allow a parent or evena child to essentially “scoop-up” the building blocks 20 based on themagnetic attraction between the wands and the building blocks. Themagnetized portions of the wands may be of any shape or configuration,limited only by weight (should allow for small children to be able tomanipulate them), size (if they are too large, they may not fit incorners to get the blocks or be hard to store), and configuration(shapes with sharp corners may accidentally damage walls, furniture, orchildren).

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

I claim:
 1. A toy combination comprising: a plurality of children'sbuilding blocks, each of the plurality of children's building blockshaving four sides with flat outer surfaces and a fifth side having asurface with a plurality of projections extending therefrom, the fivesides defining with an opening therein to receive a portion of anotherof the plurality of children's building blocks and a non-magnetizedferrous material; and a wand having at least a portion that is magnetic,the wand capable of attracting the plurality of non-magnetizedchildren's building blocks.
 2. The toy combination according to claim 1,wherein the wand is an elongate element extending between a first endand a second end, the first end having a handle and the second endhaving the magnetic portion.
 3. The toy combination according to claim2, wherein the second end has a configuration that is the same as thefirst end and an extended portion between the first and second ends. 4.The toy combination according to claim 2, wherein the second end has agenerally disc-shaped configuration.
 5. The toy combination according toclaim 1, wherein the second end is generally rectangular in crosssection.
 6. The toy combination according to claim 1, wherein thenon-magnetized ferrous material comprises a plurality of non-magnetizedpieces.
 7. The toy combination according to claim 1, wherein thenon-magnetized ferrous material is a powder.
 8. The toy combinationaccording to claim 1, wherein the non-magnetized ferrous materialcomprises particulates.
 9. A toy combination comprising: a plurality ofchildren's building blocks, each of the plurality of children's buildingblocks having at least three adjacent surfaces at an angle of about 90°to one another, at least two of the three adjacent surfaces being flat,and a non-magnetized ferrous material; and a wand having at least aportion that is magnetic, the wand capable of attracting the pluralityof children's building blocks.
 10. The toy combination according toclaim 9, wherein the plurality of children's blocks has at least someblocks with a cuboid shape.
 11. The toy combination according to claim9, wherein the plurality of children's blocks has at least some blockswith a rectangular cuboid shape.
 12. The toy combination according toclaim 9, wherein the wand comprises: a first end, the first end being ahandle for the wand; a second end, the second end having at least aportion that is magnetic to attract the building blocks with thenon-magnetized ferrous material; and an extended portion extendingbetween the first and second ends.
 13. The toy combination according toclaim 1, wherein the wand comprises: a first end, the first end being ahandle for the wand; a second end, the second end having at least aportion that is magnetic to attract the building blocks with thenon-magnetized ferrous material; and an extended portion extendingbetween the first and second ends.
 14. A toy combination comprising: aplurality of children's building blocks, each of the plurality ofchildren's building blocks having a first side with at least fourprojections extending away from a surface on the first side and a secondside opposite the first side, the second side having an opening thereindefined at least partially by a second surface of the first side andconfigured to frictionally engage at least one of the at least fourprojections of another of the plurality of children's building blocks,and a non-magnetized ferrous material; and a wand having at least aportion that is magnetic, the wand capable of attracting the pluralityof non-magnetized children's building blocks.